Scribes wait long at Saket court before charges are filed

A large contingent of media persons and lawyers waited for almost the whole day Thursday for Delhi Police to file the charge sheet in the Dec 16 gang-rape and death of a physiotherapy intern.

The charge sheet was finally filed by police around 5.40 p.m.

The courtroom in the south Delhi's Saket district courts complex and its corridor was jampacked throughout the day as 50 Indian journalists and 4-5 international correspondents, including those from the New York Times, waited for hours through the day.

There was a brief commotion around 5.15 p.m. when a court staff said that the magistrate before whom the charge sheet was earlier scheduled to be filed had left for the day.

All those who had gathered in and outside the courtroom rushed to another court as the information spread that the set of formal charges was being filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Surya Malik Grover, behind locked doors.

A lawyer complained: "Why are police filing charge sheet in a closed room?"

After some time, the door was opened and people were allowed to enter the courtroom, till the time judge did not sit.

A lawyer, among others, requested the magstrate not to hold the trial in-camera or at least let lawyers attend the hearing.

Outside the courtroom, the Pragatisheel Mahila Sangthan, a women lawyers' committee, protested, demanding justice for the victim and raised slogans like "Unite against patriarchy".